Brazilian football 'rife' with corruption

Brazilian fans have had little to cheer recently

A congressional commission in Brazil has recommended that some of the country's top football officials face criminal proceedings.

The suggestion follows an investigation into alleged corruption in the sport.

The Senate commission accused the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Ricardo Teixeira, and other senior officials of abuses including fraud and misappropriation of funds.

The commission held them partly responsible for debts of over $10m that the CBF has incurred in recent years.

General secretary Geraldo Althoff said: "Lack of control, disorganisation and bad management reign rife in the CBF.

"Mr Ricardo Teixeira, as president, is directly responsible for creating an environment which is ripe for an administrative disaster."

The situation is a portrait of the disorganisation which dominates the world of football

General secretary Geraldo Althoff

The investigation began a year ago amid growing public discontent over the way football in Brazil is being run.

The national team has underperformed in recent years and only just managed to secure qualification for next year's World Cup tournament in Japan and South Korea.

Althoff said that between 1998 and 2000, the CBF's income had rocketed thanks to lucrative television and sponsorship contracts.

But, he added, this had been offset by "the voracity and lack of control over its expenditure" and by the fact the confederation did not have a budget.

He said expenditure on staff had jumped 400% and on services - including transportation and hotels - by 600%.

Althoff also accused the CBF of financing trips to the World Cups in 1994 and 1998 for people who had nothing to do with the sport, including magistrates and other officials.

He described the Luxemburgo case as "a portrait of the disorganisation which dominates the world of football."